Hot Tub Slab

[Marcy]

I am purchasing a home with a hot tub that I do not want. A friend is taking the tub, but the 8' x 8' concrete slab will remain.

Is there an easy way to break it up? Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Corinne

[Robert Allison]

An easy way would be to run over it a couple of times with a D-9, but that would probably be expensive. In lieu of that, you may use a sledge hammer to break it up, but that would not be easy. A jackhammer isn't really easy, either. A bobcat could probably deal with it fairly easily, by lifting at the edges and getting it to crack and then break. The skid steer would then allow you to haul it off to a vehicle fairly easily too.

This is concrete. Not much easy about it.

[Rudy]

Easier to drop some patio furniture on it. Nothing about breaking up concrete is easy. I'm pouring my hot tub slab next Tues. Theres going to be #10 rebar in it 24" OC.

[Dr. Hardcrab]

You lucky SOB!

I gotta wait until October.....

[Vic Dura]

If it's not more than 4" thick, rent an electric jack hammer for the day. Start at the edge and break off pieces about 6"x6". You should be able to complete it in 4 or 5 hours.

[JRanieri]

Breaking an unreinforced slab is not difficult. You will need a large sledge, say 16 lb, and a long (at least 6') steel pry bar. Just whacking the slab on grade will be very difficult, the key is elevating it slightly off the ground. That's where the prybar comes in. Stick it under a corner, use a block of wood as a fulcrum and get it just an inch or two off grade. Have a helper cram a board under there to hold it up. Whack. One blow with the sledge will break it cleanly. The first break is the hardest - after that it goes quickly. If the slab has an existing crack or 2, so much the better.

The most laborious part of the job is actually carting away the broken chunks. Okay, I just noticed your name is Marcy. If you're a 98 lb. woman - you might have a tough time getting enough leverage to elevate that slab. Just remember the words of Archimedes ( I think ), give me a long enough lever and I can move the world - or words to that effect. But what would he use as a fulcrum? But I digress...

[Robert Allison]

The moon could be used as a fulcrum,...with a long enough lever. But then we get into the motion induced. Relative to each other, which would be moving? The earth or the moon or (probably) both? Relative to the sun, you would probably see both move, the moon having the greatest deviation from original position, the earth lesser. But if you were to brace the moon against say Jupiter, then you could probably just move the earth with the moon as a fulcrum. Or why not just use Jupiter as the fulcrum? Of course that would vastly increase the length needed for the lever,...

[trader4]

Breaking up a slab this size isn't all that hard, using a large sledge hammer. The other problem is getting rid of the material. Depending on where you are, that can be expensive. Are you sure you want to do this? If the slab is in good shape, If possible, I'd consider other possibilities, like using the area for something else, eg barbecue area, table/chairs

[SteveB]

Go down to your local nursery. There are always a lot of workmen around mine in the mornings looking for work. Hire them to do a hard job.

Steve

[G Henslee]

So use his until then. Problem solved.

[SteveB]

Are you related to my wife? She says things like that all the time, usually through the window from air conditioned comfort. ;-)

You got that right. It is easier to pay someone with a truck to break it up and haul it away at one time. You can put it in the garbage one block at a time, but it takes a couple of years to get rid of it all.

Depending

Excellent suggestion. One of those premade gazebos would probably fit over it pretty good. Just be sure to anchor it.

Steve

[HerHusband]

Corinne,

Last year I had to break out a small 2' x 3' step to pour a new patio. The step was about 6" thick, but I figured it would be an easy task with a sledge and/or a chisel. I weigh over 200 pounds and figured I could smash that thing up easily. However, I spent an afternoon beating the heck out of that small step and the best I could achieve was to chip off the corners.

So, the next day I rented an electric jackhammer. Again, I expected the jackhammer to pulverize the slab, but it was a bit more work than I expected. It's hard to describe, but there's a certain "trick" to using the jackhammer. You kind of have to beat in a spot for a bit, move to the side, and repeat. You're trying to create a fracture line across the concrete. Eventually, it'll break at that point. Once I figured it out, I had the step out in about 15 minutes. However, be aware that the jackhammer itself is fairly heavy (60 pounds maybe?), so just moving it around takes some work.

A few months ago I rented a bobcat to do some landscape work. Part of the project involved relocating a small 8x12 shed. I unbolted the shed from the slab, jacked it up, and set it on 2x6 runners. I then used the bobcat to pull the shed to the new location. It worked great.

With the shed gone, I now had a 8' x 12' slab to break up. I dug the bobcat blade just under the edge of the slab, and slowly lifted it up. It was slow going at first, just to get the slab to separate from the ground. But eventually, the slab lifted and it got about 2' off the ground before it cracked in the middle from it's own weight. I then continued lifting the pieces up and cracking them that way. A cracked a couple of stubborn pieces by flipping them over so they landed on other pieces of concrete. This cracked them fairly easily. We were filling in a low spot anyway, so I used the bobcat to bury the large concrete chunks, and later cover them with topsoil.

Both my step and slab were unreinforced (no rebar). If the slabs had contained rebar, I would tend to think the jackhammer would be the better option?

Good luck!

Anthony

[Tim Fischer]

Really? We love our hot tub (that came with the house).

You can rent an electric "jackhammer" to do the job if you really don't want it.

-Tim

[JohnH]

I hereby nominate this as the oddest reply of the week.

[SteveB]

And I nominate yours at #2.

I have never seen the Statue of Liberty, yet, I take other people's word for it that it is there and exists. It takes a small brain not to listen to others who have experiences outside our own. And to believe that just because we haven't experienced something, that it is possible for others to have done so.

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. When I want to hire day laborers, or a person for a specific job, I go there. They are not a referral agency, but if you need some grunts, or a grunt with a truck, go there, and they are on the sidewalk outside.

Now, if you are paranoid type who can't just hire day laborers, it would be advisable to go to an employment agency, or call a contractor. Be sure to get their insurance certificate. Have them fill out an I-9 and W-2, or

1099. Have them sign a disclaimer. Be sure not to give out your address or phone number, and don't touch them.

For others who are looking for a simple solution to a simple problem, just look around in the obvious places. I even have a corner near my house where two guys have put up posters saying "Man with truck will haul."

We also have a guy called "Spa Steve." He will buy all used spas, and pick them up. I am sure he could recommend someone to clear the slab, too.

I'm sorry. Did you actually have something to offer this poster, or to add to this conversation, or were you just trolling?

Steve

[Hell Toupee]

Before you rent a jackhammer or hire someone to deal with it, try using a sledgehammer on it yourself. It's hard to break up concrete when it's flat on the ground, which just absorbs the shock of the sledge blows. Frankly, an 8 x 8 slab is probably too large and heavy for you to pry up yourself, but you could try it with a steel pry bar. Otherwise, this worked for me: start at one of the corners and dig out/under it a bit. You want that bit of corner hanging over the soil, not supported by it. Slide the pry bar or a 2x4 under that corner, so that pounding that corner with the sledge won't just cause the corner to settle back down into the dirt. Hit the concrete corner a couple times with the sledge. If the corner fractures off easily enough, repeat this process a few more times to break off more pieces of the slab. At some point when the slab gets smaller, you may finally be able to pry it up with a pry bar, at which point slide a 2x4 or two under it to prop it up so it'll keep fracturing more easily. You may decide you can do the whole job yourself. If you decide it's too much effort for you to manage with a sledgehammer, then you can look into renting a jackhammer or hiring the job out.

You have some possible options for getting rid of the concrete. For a fee, a local trash hauler may provide a dumpster you can fill, and they'll remove it in a week or so. There may be a local dump site that'll accept concrete chunks for a fee, if you can manage to haul it over there. Ask around to see if there's a company in the area that does heavy construction, like roadbuilding, where they pour concrete and supply gravel. The one in my area accepts concrete chunks for free, they grind them up and reuse them. I just had to borrow my neighbor's trailer to haul it over there.

Finally, remember you'll end up with a large shallow hole in the yard where the slab was. You'll need to haul in some topsoil to level it off. Now that you've had a chance to think about how much work and expense getting rid of the slab will make for yourself, you may decide you'd rather leave it in place.

HellT

[Mark and Kim Smith]

[gfretwell]

Is this a slab or a bridge across the Grand Canyon?

#10 rebar would be 1 1/4" in diameter.

[Pagan]

A jackhammer is a good idea, but they're big and heavy. A demolition hammer is the same thing, but much smaller, and made quick work of my cinderblock walls and portions of my slab that needed removing.

Either way, it's best if you dig a bit around one edge of the slab, to give the broken concrete somewhere to go.

Once it's broken up, you can place it in your trash a little at a time, until it's gone.

Frankly, if it works for you, I like the suggestion of using it for a small patio. Plant some tall bushes and a couple small trees around it, throw on some patio furniture, and you have a little private nook away from the rest of the world.

Pagan

[Rudy]

We sold our other house w/tub 2 years ago..been "without" since then. We' ve been building this one for 1 1/2 yrs..the "aches" NEED a hot tub. I'm not getting any younger..Glad the concrete is the last big job.

R